I tried making some homemade gumdrops today. They (well...it, as I ended up just making one big gumdrop!) turned out much better than the first batch I attempted. I didn't have a candy thermometer and basically made a big sticky mass of hard candy after overcooking the sugar...

This time, the consistency was vastly improved (I invested in a candy thermometer), but the taste was kinda terrible. It tasted all tangy and weird- not totally inedible, but it certainly didn't taste right.

I'm not really sure what I did wrong, but I'm pretty sure something went wrong. I think it was the pectin.

The final product was just full of big white chunks and it was a little slimy. I've noticed that when I make this (my recipe has two parts- a saucepan with corn syrup and sugar and a saucepan with water, baking soda and pectin), the pectin mixture foams up right away and then it forms big foamy chunks. I stirred it, but some of the chunks never...de-chunked, even after boiling it.

I'm not sure if I am just not working fast enough or boiling it enough, or if I'm supposed to be doing something else with the pectin (adding the ingredients/mixing it over heat, maybe?).